Now, Plummer-Fernandez, creative technologist for Goldsmith College's Interaction Research Studio, has done the same thing, but this time to make a political point. The Disarming Corruptor is a free piece of software designed to "corrupt" and "repair" an STL file used to 3D print. It's based on seven key values that can be tweaked to distort the file. Anyone that knows those key values can reverse the process and reveal the file's original and true nature; any tweaks in the wrong direction will further corrupt the file.

"It's simply an algorithm that will scramble the vertex positions of an STL file," Plummer-Fernandez tells Wired.co.uk. "The algorithm can be reversed if you know the initial parameters that the sender used. The corrupt function can be executed multiple times on a file to provide it with a more robust encryption."

So far the software is compatible with OS X, but Plummer-Fernandez plans to release a version for Windows and Linux.

He tells Wired.co.uk the inspiration for the software came off the back of a "succession of events regarding copyright, firearms, the NSA, and so on."

"The Pirate Bay AFK documentary really inspired me to think of technologies that facilitate privacy and network transmission for the benefit of others, and then it just struck me that my glitching mesh software that I normally work on for aesthetic pursuits had this unintended functionality: it could conceal the true identity of a file, and, more importantly, it could be reversed."

When we asked him what his opinion was on facilitating access to things such as Cody Wilson's 3D printed gun, Plummer-Fernandez responded: "It's not my position to challenge certain 3D files as right or wrong for sharing. I simply realized that a tool could be made to privatize that exchange in plain sight and wanted to test that reality."

"I have my opinions on copyright and weapons, but I didn't want this to be an ideological tool that embodies my opinions. It's designed to function for all files, not just illegal files. It has been inspired by those taboos regarding weapons and copyright, but the software itself is a fairly neutral artifact. It treats all 3D files as a list of numbers. I'm curious as to how such a technology may be adopted, but I am not prescribing a specific use."

Although Plummer-Fernandez designed the software without a specific use in mind, its creation does appear to have come out of some of those views on copyright and weapons. To Wired.co.uk he cites "copyright, firearms, the NSA" as the contextual starter point for the design, and in an earlier interview with Forbes, Plummer-Fernandez said the idea came after iMaterialize refused to print an object he had designed because it bore a resemblance to Mickey Mouse. The idea came to him again when Thingiverse banned weapons files. "I was confronting all these taboos showing up in 3D-printing around copyrighted material and 3D-printed weapons, and I think these services are leaving their users out to dry. I wanted to think of a way to circumvent these problems," he told Forbes.

Furthermore, on Plummer-Fernandez's own website he states: "In a time of prolific online espionage, crackdowns on file-sharing, and a growing concern for the 3D printing of illegal items and copyright protected artifacts, DC is a free software application that helps people to circumvent these issues." He may be indicating his software allows users to circumvent the problems that arise from those "growing concerns," problems that are separate from 3D printing guns and copyrighted items but appear as fear and controls become too great. However, for now, the implication is his software will provide people with the capacity to 3D print those banned items.

Today, speaking to Wired.co.uk, his approach is one of non-involvement when it comes to the software's end uses.

"If it is used mainly for sharing guns, I wouldn't know. The files aren't shared via servers in my basement; they are shared on Thingiverse and the like. My goal is to give people a level of protection and privacy against patent trolls, repressive governments, NSA algorithms, and all the other parties that might come looking for them. Technologies must serve the interest of the people, not only of those in control, and I'd like to believe it is up to these file-sharing communities to self-regulate their archive of files." It's an idealistic outlook, that those communities might seek to block the printing of those harmful or illegal items that inspired the software's creation in the first place. Nevertheless, as a tool, the Disarming Corruptor is a leveler for the design community that seeks to ensure no one individual, body, or company has a monopoly over any shape they can imagine.

It will also be up to the community to reinforce the technology, as authorities will no doubt quickly crack the code which has so far seen all Disarming Corruptor hacked files named "DC."

"That will be resolved by participants I'm sure," said Plummer-Fernandez. "I provide the technology, not the strategy nor purpose. I recommended the 'DC' tag to facilitate the emergence of a community of cypherpunk fabbers. I think if the app is cracked or seen as weak, it would be stepped up."

The software is by no means uncrackable. And law enforcement might, somewhere down the line, just resort to taking down any file it suspects of being modified using the Disarming Corruptor, if the consensus is the software is used solely for sharing illegal items. It's up to the community to use the tool to create an open community and not merely to spread files of Wilson's 3D printed gun or a Mickey Mouse model. If the general use is for the good of an open source design community, it's less likely it will lead to yet more of that fear, more of that control from the agencies Plummer-Fernandez wants to protect us from.